Saturday, April 6, 2013

The Other F Word

COVER REVEAL

Amazon August 2013

Dekram's wings quivered like a rainbow oil slick on a puddle
as she wrapped them around her body and scooted further into the hollow of the
cypress. Her wings parted, and, with a gasp, sage-green eyes worried a look at
her friend. "Oh, for the love of Disney, Lay! Get back in here!"Dekram
rushed a whisper. "They're swarming, you idiot."

Layol giggled over her shoulder then wiggled back into the
tree and perched on her heels, wings vibrating excitement. "Pixin'
enchantin', right? I've never seen so many Fire fairies in one place. Don't ya
wanna know what's up with that?"

Dekram's wings shivered. "No! The Skulls are out
there!"

"You think they're working the rest of the Fire fairies
up to go all lost boys on us during the mock missions?"

"Really, Lay?" Dekram spread her wings so Layol
could see her eyes roll. "It's not like they've been allowed to go into
the human world for the last century or so."

"Well, they're not playing soccer with a roly-poly."
Layol popped her head out of the hole in the cypress.

"Did you not hear, 'always stink of rancid honey'? They're
in-ee-bri-A-ted!" Dekram rapid fired. "We're a gnat's butt away from
getting a mission. If you attract them to us and we get caught-"

"Okay! Do I look like I'm rushin' out to ask them
anything?" Layol said, butt in the air, upper body hanging out of the hole
in the tree. "Impin' right, I'm not. Besides, they're leaving, and it's
just as well."

Layol back-winged a half circle until she hovered in front
of Dekram. ''We need to get to class. You so totally do not need another
deficiency mark, gal pal. So, unless you can pull a Wendy and wish us to Neverland, we best get our wings
on."

"I will never understand why Fire fairies are not
institutionalized by the time they turn eighteen. All they care about is
drinking and mating." Dekram unfolded her wings, stood, and fingered her
long red curls. "You sure they're gone?"

"Yesssss," Layol said, working a fist with her
hip. "Give it a rest. Maybe I wouldn't go lip-to-lip with a Skull—those
buzz-saw teeth—and sure, the whole drunken bad-boy fairy thing could be a big
carnal thrill-kill, but c'mon, if they stayed sober they'd be a major
attraction in an 'I know I'm not supposed to be doing this' kind of way."

"Grimm calamities! You so didn't just say that!"
Dekram made a fist and worried two front teeth with a thumbnail.

"Just sayin'—not doin'."

"I can only hope, because that would definitely be a series
of unfortunate events." Dekram glanced at the exit. "Can you see
Renrad? Is he still tethered to the bush by the pond?"

Layol blew a melodramatic sigh and looked out of the hole in
the trunk. "Your dragonfly is safe. Now can we get to school before the
first bell rings?"

In second period humanities, Mrs. Ecarg, an Earth fairy with
reddish-brown hair cut short around her face, and a tent-like flowered dress
covering her bulbous body, wrote homework assignments on the blackboard. Behind
her, students passed notes, their faces dressed in dramatic expressions, while
others whispered exaggerations, teased or taunted.

Dekram half-listened to the students while she watched the
bun on the back of Mrs. Ecarg's head bob to the beat of the chalk moving on the
blackboard. Her eyes wandered to the clock on the wall over the door and she mentally
counted off seconds, willing the minutes to move along. After two-hundred-and-seventeen
seconds—three ticks of the big hand on the face of the clock, thirty-one
seconds to the next—her eyelids felt heavy and her mind wandered back to the
cypress tree and the swarm. The stupid Fire
fairies are the least disciplined and most unsupervised kids in Wandermere. So
totally not fair. Why does the council put up with them? If I had my way...

When the communication device above Mrs. Ecarg's desk screeched
a shrilly sound, the teacher jumped out of her Birkenstocks', bare feet kicking
the hem of her muumuu.

Two hollow taps echoed and a winded sound reverberated the
speaker, before Principal Nrets stern voice came through loud and clear. "Mrs.
Ecarg, please send Dekram to the office."

"Right now," the voice of Dekram's mother snapped.

Dekram bolted out of her chair, wings all a-flutter. "Pandora's
box," she groused under her breath. "What now?"

Soahc, Miss Everybody-Has-My-Number-On-Speed-Dial, snickered.
"What'd ya do this time, half-breed? Eat the family pet?"

Accompanied by a chorus of giggles, rapid comments filled
the air:

"Her mother doesn't have wings."

"Lucky she got some from Daddy."

"Skype 'er, man. Two words: Pond scum."

"Why do all of you have to be so rude?" Detaf
blushed. His dark blueAir fairy skin turned purple. He ran a
hand under his ball cap, palmed his black hair, and lowered the brim of the cap
over deep blue eyes.

Soahc curled her lips at Detaf. "Even gnats have
wings…unless you pluck them." She flipped her blonde hair with some major
attitude.

"That's enough, missy!" Mrs. Ecarg snapped, back
in her shoes that were firmly planted on the floor. "Do I need to enforce
my no-tolerance policy in regards to species prejudice? Because I certainly
will. Each of our species' individual Elements is essential to everyone's
survival in Wandermere. No single species…"

While Mrs. Ecarg yammered on, Dekram thought, Yeah, lotta good that does me, Little-Miss-Ethnic-Misfit.
Why'd my father have to get all domestic with a Water sprite? He's a Human
Services officer. Surely, he could have found another Air fairy to attach
himself to? I hate being the only half-breed in Wandermere.

"Nymph's granny undies! Where does she fit into the
Elements that rule each individual species?" asked a girl sitting behind
Soahc.

With a garish grin, Etah held Detaf's attention. "She's
mottled our Elements—I say we put her in a cage before she mates and makes more
anomalies!"

Soahc adjusted the shoulders of her saffron-dyed dress and
chided, "Bet you didn't have a policy until she came along, anyway."

"A Merrybegot's dreaded existence—that's my life! I
hate it!" Dekram caught Detaf's sympathetic expression and her delicate
wings turned pink as she grimaced and tried to ignore the bell-like giggles of
her classmates. She bolted for the classroom door, bright curly hair billowing
around her heart-shaped face, and flew down burnt-orange halls, past closed
classroom doors and blue lockers dotted with colorful padlocks.

Mrs. Laretil was standing at the library door when Dekram
rocketed by. "Slow down, young lady. We do not bolt, we flutter!" The
Librarian's voice warbled and rose in pitch.

Dekram shouted over her shoulder, "Yes ma'am," and
the whole hallway distorted and wavered like heat rising from hot pavement
behind her as she shot up through a whirling hole that shimmered on the tiled
ceiling.

On the other side, while flying toward the office, Dekram
remembered the last incident that brought her mother to school. So totally not my fault. It was all because
of my transportation bug. I didn't ask for a lime-green Darner dragonfly with
boring translucent wings for my 16th birthday. I wanted a butterfly, but no, my
mother goes and snags Renrad at the pond—I'm sure it had absolutely nothing to
do with him eating her precious larvae. Dekram blew a sigh. He'd gobbled up three other kids'
transportation bugs, it became all my fault, and now I have to tie him to a
tree at the pond and fly the rest of the way to school. Thank the Elements the
stupid dragonfly didn't devour Soahc's Monarch.

"Really, how smart was that gift?" Dekram mumbled as
she darted into the office through another shimmering hole, halfway up the oak
tree. I hope whatever they deem my fault
this time doesn't get me another deficiency mark.

Coming to a hummingbird stop in front of the secretary's
desk, she yanked her camo low-riders up over her belly-button ring and fastened
two more buttons on her midriff blouse.

A tsking noise from behind made Dekram look over her
shoulder to find Mirg, Soahc's best friend, staring at her with a disparaging
look through a curtain of black bangs.

With fingernails painted maroon, Mirg pulled a black lace
veil down over her nose and lips. "Oscar Wilde said, 'I suppose society is
wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is
simply a tragedy'."

Bacs wore a big silver-toothed grin, black jeans, and a
long-sleeved ebony t-shirt with skull-and-crossbones laminated on the chest. A
studded black ball cap, brim hiding one ear, sat over red hair and a
cloud-blue, ghost-like face. "Toe-jam! She smells like flies' feet."
Bacs flung a leather jacket haphazardly over one shoulder and fanned his face
with a hand full of papers.

"Maggot's breath would have been a darker, more
suitable description, especially since she's dead to us." Mirg, dressed in
all black, casually kicked the stiff tulle under her skirt with a cyberpunk
boot laced up to her knee.

Dekram thought, I'm
almost positive Mirg and Bacs have Fire fairy in their lineage—probably all Soahc's friends have some demon
blood running through their veins. Her wings vibrated and red sprinkles
dusted the floor in front of the secretary's desk.

Mrs. Edia, a middle-aged Earth fairy with curly black hair
and overly large wings, walked up and stared at the red fairy dust on the
floor. She huffed her way into the chair behind her desk, and then glared at
Dekram. "Four marks this month, young lady." She scribbled on a piece
of paper. "Three more and you spend mission's week at home. Go on in. They're
waiting for you." She waved her off and then motioned an office monitor
over. "Can you please get the broom and clean this mess up, Dren?"

Dren pushed horn-rimmed glasses up his nose, grabbed the
broom and jumped right to it. His friend, Keeg, flew behind him with a dustpan.

Mirg shot Bacs a set of grim eyes. "You know, back in
human history they'd impale those of lower stature for insubordination."
She tsked at Dekram. "They used a long wooden stake..."

Mirg took in a long dramatic breath. "But Dekram'll
probably just get another deficiency mark." She glared at the secretary. "Beatlejuice. Beatlejuice," Mirg mumbled, and then paused to smile at the
secretary before mouthing, "Beatlejuice."

Bacs covered his face with the papers in his hand and snickered.
"Yep, another one down, two more to go."

Dekram's wings flickered angry-red as she buzzed toward
Principal Nrets' cubicle, knowing everyone in the office would hear the
conversation that was about to take place.

Her mother, Diuqil, stood by the principal's desk. She wore
a drab twig outfit over a slug-skinned algae and tan colored body. Her
dreadlocked, brown and moss-green hair wiggled around an oval face as though it
had a life of its own. So not appealing,
Dekram thought.

The minute her mother saw her, brows met over angry,
apple-green eyes. "I knew when I saw the empty shopping bag and price tags
in your bedroom trash container, you'd worn that blouse! It's very
inappropriate, especially for school. We talked about this, young lady—you were
supposed to return it today. If your father…"

Dekram landed on a yellow and white mushroom in the far
corner of the office and shot Nrets a look of embarrassment. "All the kids
dress-"

"I don't care what all the other kids wear,"
Diuqil snapped, arms slinging algae on the floor. "You will not dress like
a, a-"

With a sharp phlegmy cough, and wings mottling shades of
fall color, Principal Nrets nipped a possible uncomplimentary adjective. He
pushed a hemp rug in Diuqil's direction. "You're dripping." Like most
of the staff at the school, Nrets was an Earth fairy and although they tend to
be more nurturing, Nrets was a stern nurturer.

Water sprites were not known for their housekeeping skills.
Diuqil stepped on the rug and shook. "Sorry, just left the pond, been
harvesting mosquito eggs all morning."

Dekram heard snickers in the outer office and knew this
conversation would be all over the school before lunch. "Do we have to
discuss this now? Can't we wait until I get home?" she asked, wishing her
mother would just leave, and trying to cover more of her stomach with her
splayed fingers.

"No-we-can-not! I will not have you blatantly
disobeying me." She reached into a burlap bag hanging on her arm, adjusted
a jar half-filled with water and floating foam, pulled out a soiled purple
t-shirt, and tossed it at Dekram. "Put this on and give me that blouse."

Dekram's wings fluttered in a cloud of pink sprinkles. She
gripped the shirt. "Could you have picked a more clashing color?" She
asked, and immediately regretted it. Water Sprites are colorblind. Dekram
gritted her teeth, knowing she probably shouldn't have drawn attention to that,
but when she got flustered, words just popped out of her mouth before her brain
caught up.

Diuqil stomped a bare foot on the hemp rug, sending slimy
water droplets into the air, then whipped a finger at the office bathroom. "For
the love of larvae, move it. I need to get back to the swamp before the
dragonflies start another feeding frenzy."

More snickers erupted on the other side of the wall. Dekram's
arms turned bright red and color moved quickly over her shoulders and neck then
puddled on her face in ugly patches.

Mr. Nrets pushed his horned-rimmed glasses up the bridge of
his hawk-like nose as he toe-cleaned some moist slimy spots on the floor. "I
strongly suggest that you do what your mother says without further conflict.
Your next class begins in fifteen minutes. Mrs. Evol will be handing out mock
mission assignments. You wouldn't want to miss yours, would you?"

The principal's eyes wandered to the pink fairy dust
settling around the base of the yellow and white mushroom. "Today's visit
has already won you another deficiency mark. Control is very important if you
wish to be accepted in the Human Services Department. Unlike here, the
department has a no tolerance level."

Dekram stared at the dust, thinking, Nope, I probably won two marks, counting the mess in the outer office.
She batted her long black lashes, and sighed. "Yes, Sir." Without
another comment, she flew through a tiny hole in the wall to change.

Laying a palm on the center of her chest, eyes closed, she
worked the gift of glamour that all fairies were born with. The blouse melted
from her body and reformed in her hand. She grabbed the t-shirt. I won't be doing some menial job, like
gathering stupid herbs and flowers with Earth fairies, or skimming mosquito
larvae like my mother for the rest of my life. I will be a H S field agent!
Laying the t-shirt on her chest, Dekram felt the garment mold over her body,
and softly tugged her wings until the shirt melted under and around them.

The first bell rang, and as Dekram turned to leave through
the shimmering ring that lead into the hall, she heard the principal softly
say, "Diuqil, we all have concerns, and being her…mother, I assume you
feel more responsible. However, overreacting to small situations such as this
could jeopardize everything."

Dekram's mother said, "But her lack of a relationship
with Detaf and the evident relationship simmering with the..."

Detaf??? What the heck?
The way Detaf had just stood up for her in class, rushed her memory, but Mr. Nrets'
words pulled her back into the conversation.

"...I assure you this is an area we are watching very
closely," the principal said. "Everyone is pushing the experiment
toward a climax."

Experiment?
Dekram bolted for the exit, heart sinking. Is
that what I am—the half-breed experiment? Are they wondering if I will have both
my parent's powers? And what's with Detaf?

As she darted toward class feeling weighted by the
conversation, Dekram thought, What if I
can't even go through the impin' portal? "Well, I sure hope my mother's
inability to stay on the right side of the tracks didn't rob me of that, too!"

A few minutes later, Dekram flew into class and headed
directly to her seat in the back of the room as the last bell rang. Layol was
already sitting at the desk beside hers.At
least Layol doesn't think I'm an anomaly.

Her friend was beautiful, with pastel-colored wings and the
delicate sky-blue body typical of Air fairies. She had almond-shaped navy-blue
eyes, lavender brows, corn powder hair, full deep-purple lips, and a pale blue
tongue with a gold stud through the tip. Layol's favorite color was pink; today
she wore an asymmetrical, gauzy, pale pink dress and deep fuchsia hip boots.

"Two," Dekram dropped her head, "and it was the
floor in front of her desk."

"Swell. One more, gal-pal, and you're yesterday's
fairytale."

"I know," Dekram said, "and this time I blew
it. Not my moth-"

"Yep, heard that too," Layol said, staring
pointedly at Dekram's purple shirt. "Soahc and her caustic bunch were
exchanging text messages from Bacs and Mirg and being very verbal about it in
the hall before class."

"Oh, Peter's woody!" Dekram sighed as she tried to
twist her t-shirt into a knot to hide most of the muck her mother had gotten
all over the front.

Layol grinned. "Don't go gettin' all lewd-Disney on me."
She laughed, shook her head and said, "Oh yeah, that looks sooo much
better," pointing at the wad of material settled in the center of Dekram's
chest. "How about this?" Layol pulled a light blue, loosely knit
shawl out of her backpack and handed it to Dekram.

"Sh-yeah-right, like the color of my pants isn't
already screaming at my shirt. I put that on and there's gonna be a riot."

"What got ya the second mark?" Layol stuffed the
shawl back in her backpack.

"I sprinkled in Nrets' cubical."

"Pixie-girl, you've got some control issues,"
Layol said, and when the teacher clapped her hands and called the class to
order, she whispered, "Well, at least homeroom is a no Soahc zone. No wasp
brigade, either."

"Yeah, one hour out of my day," Dekram whispered
back, "right before lunch where they all gather and rapid fire the
insults."

"All right, class." Mrs. Evol said, getting
everyone's attention. "I've paired you off and assigned a different mock
mission to each pair. The academy will be sending out three groups over the
next couple of weeks. When each pair from our classroom returns, we will
discuss their missions before moving on to the next group."

Mrs. Evol folded her slender fingers together on top of her
desk and the lacy Victorian collar of her crisp white blouse cupped her neck
like Prairie Larkspur petals. "Does anyone have any questions before I
begin handing them out?"

By the time the teacher was halfway through the third group,
Dekram's wings hummed with excitement.

"You're cutting off the circulation in my fingers,"
Layol giggled.

"I can't help it!"

"I know! We're gonna be on-"

"Dekram and Layol."

Both fairies bolted into the air, slapped hands, let out
shrill giggles, and whipped over classmate's heads toward the teacher's desk.

Detaf threw down his pencil and the teacher quickly
challenged his outburst with a furrowed brow and then addressed Dekram and
Layol with encouragement. "Let's hope your enthusiasm carries you through
your mission."

"Pan's pledge!" Layol said, grabbing her folder.

Dekram slid her own folder under her arm and gave Mrs. Evol a
quick hug.

With their heads together in a mess of mingling hair and
quivering wings, the girls did a chaotic hummingbird dance all the way back to
their desks.